Lucie sets sail in Atlantic voyage

Battle: Lucie Carrington at the helm ahead of her voyage

When Lucie Carrington was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer at the age of 15, her whole world was turned upside down.

The teenager was just about to start her GCSEs at Ripley St Thomas High School in Lancaster, but Lucie said her “relationship with death” turned her into a 35-year-old overnight.

In a situation of pure luck and chance, Lucie’s mother, an oncology nurse, took one look at the egg-shaped lump on her forearm and immediately suspected what it was.

It turned out to be Ewings sarcoma – a rare type of bone cancer – although at the time Lucie thought she had been kicked during a Taekwondo session. Had it not been picked up, she would have lost her arm.

The diagnosis resulted in a year’s worth of intensive chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery.

A decade on, Lucie is just about to embark on an epic 36-day voyage across the Atlantic, joining the Great British round the world sailing team between New York and Holland on June 7, aiming to raise £10,000 for the Ellen McArthur Cancer Trust hat helped her.

Lucie, now 26, of Bowerham, said: “It will be 10 years to the day since I was having chemo. At the moment I don’t know anyone who has had this type of cancer and survived. I had the tiniest lump and I thought I’d just been kicked. It was pure luck and chance.”